Archibald Heating & Cooling

Blower Door Testing- Air Sealing and Insulating

Whole House System Performance-

What is it and why is so important?

Home Performance Contracting can significantly reduce a buildings energy consumption. This can lead to reduced equipment sizing, a great reduction in daily energy consumption and a greater level of comfort for occupants.

Energy efficiency is at the forefront of many peoples thoughts today.The rising cost of Fuel Oil, Liquified Petroleum Gas (a by-product of the Petroleum Distillation Process) are of great conceren to many of us today. as well as replacing our Furnaces and Air Conditioners to gain greater efficiency, we need to look at our houses as part of the equation.

The whole house as a system concept is certainly not new, it has been around for a long time. As energy costs continue to rise, the whole house concept of energy efficiency has to come back to the forefront of our attention. Blower door, Duct Blaster and Combustion Safety Testing are one of the most important factors in our decisions to save energy and therefore money.

Air Leakage (called infiltration) can sweep countless hard earned dollars right from your

checkbook right through the open cracks and unsealed areas of your home or business. Locating and eliminating these points of infiltration and exfiltration points is the job of the blower door and the trained whole house professional. Seen in the picture to the left is the effect a blower door has on your home or business. By depressurizing your home or business air is drawn through cracks and crevices. These air leaks (during normal house operation drag your hard earned dollars right to the outside.

The Duct Blaster and Your Money

The Duct Blaster Test allows the examiner to find leaks in your duct system. Locating and correcting these air leaks makes the duct system much more efficient, This efficiency. This efficiency also leads to a more comfortably operating haeting and cooling system. Air leaks in a duct system (as seen in the picture below) can cost you up to 60% of your energy costs.

Let's Start Starving that old energy Gorilla living in your home.

Our evaluator can show you using a chart how much energy gets wasted by leaky, uninsulated, inefficient duct systems. All the Oil, all the Gas, all that electricity sent OUTSIDE through all those cracks in that leaky old duct system.

Why a Blower Door Test?

1-The saving of GREAT amounts of energy (hard earned dollars)

2-A GREATER level of comfort in the home

3-A potentially smaller heating and cooling system

4-Return on investment during a home sale

1-Repairing small holes and cracks in the building envelope will help keep hard-earned dollars from escaping from your home. It is commonly accepted that 15-30% of your heating and cooling costs can be traced back to the building envelope.A 15-30% reduction in your energy costs can be significant. Say that your home currently burns up to 1000 gallons of oil per year (typical for an average home heating and hot water) at $4.00/gallon for heating and hot water, the savings could equal $600.00 to $1,300.00. That cvanequal a great savings for your checkbook and put more money back in YOUR pocket where it belongs (not your Oil Company).

2-Everybody would like a more comfortable place to live. Air Leaks (also known as drafts) bring in large amounts of COLD DRAFTY UNCONDITIONED AIR. This unconditioned air makes us put on sweaters, sit like Eskimos with blankets over us at night, and having freezing toes while doing the dishes in front of the Kitchen sink. After sealing the cracks and crevices of our homes we do not have to turn up the heating thermostat to feel as comfortable, or cover up with ANOTHER blanket at night. We do not have to be scared to keep the thermostat set at a comfortable temperature because of the cost. Those old nasty drafts can be stopped, and the first step towards being more comfortable is the blower door test.

3-Are you purchasing a replacement Heating or Air Condiioning System? It would be good to know that blower door testing, air sealing and insulating can reduce the size of your new Heating and Cooling System by 15-30%. This will immediately effect the cost of installing your new system by using smaller equipment and can effect the overall installation costs as well. These savings can be turned back into your home. As well the new smaller, correctly sized Heating or Cooling Equipment will operate at a much lower daily operating cost, with a greater level of comfort for the residents. These savings can be enjoyed for many, many years to come.

4-Lowered energy costs can be tracked using Utility Company Electric and Natural Gas Bills, Oil Compny Delivery Records and Propane Delivery Records. These records can be tracked and KLEEN-aitre of NY., Ltd. will turn these records into a case study to show a potential home buyer the total energy saved by air-sealing and insulating. In other words if you and your neighbor are selling two equal houses your lowered operating costs may enhance the sale of your home and add value during the process.